I’ve now been a mum for nearly 8 weeks. Those 8 weeks have been beautiful, challenging and life changing. Your whole world totally changes overnight and it’s something you can never fully prepare yourself for. 

Here’s some things I’ve realised and learnt so far…

1. Things I once thought were important are now not. Mainly my body, obviously I still like to keep fit and want to look good but in the grand scheme of things who cares if my tummy doesn’t look exactly like it used to cause I have my little girl to show for it.

2. You can’t do it all! Whether that’s letting the house work slip for the day, missing a workout or not getting dressed and staying in a tracksuit (not in this heat mind) having a baby is hard and they are so demanding it’s okay to just chill and catch up on rest some days.

3. Everything you do takes twice as long. No longer can you just nip out, you have to get the pram, the nappy bag, change of outfits, then you’ll lock the door and remember you forgot a sun hat and have to run back in. You end up taking longer to get out the door than you do out.

4. Following on from the previous post – You can’t rush things. The amount of times I’ve planned something for a certain time and just before it’s time to leave she wants feeding or needs changing. I’ve found over the last 2 months I have really chilled out as you can’t stick to strict plans with a newborn, and I think that’s the best way to be.

5. You never stop worrying. I imagine this is more so when you’re a first time mum but you’re constantly thinking and worrying, even in my sleep I dream about worrying about her!

6. You can’t keep a top clean. I have resigned myself to the fact that none of my tops will be clean for a while. Muslins are great but baby sick manages to go everywhere. But trust me, you won’t even care.

7. You can’t prepare for it. You can go to all the classes, read all the books but when it comes down to it you can never be fully prepared. Not one baby is the same, there’s no hard and fast rules to follow, you have to learn as you go along and trust your instincts.

8. No matter how well your little one sleeps, you are always tired to an extent! It’s a 24/7 job, you don’t switch off, you don’t have a break, you are always on duty and it’s tiring, but it is so rewarding and it makes those little naps you have with your baby even better!

9. You’ll run out of phone storage real quick! The amount of apps, texts, old videos, etc I have had to delete since she’s been born is unreal. But you can never take too many pictures of them.

10. The love you feel is unlike anything I have ever felt before. It’s such a pure, unconditional love that grows every single day despite thinking you could never love them more than you do now.

Becoming a mum has really made me realise what’s important in life and what’s not. It’s challenging and scary but amazing too and I think it’s the best job in the world.

Love Lucy x

Written by Lucy Mitchell for her blog, Love Lucy Jane.

Instagram: @lucyjmitchell